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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24849811">A Needed Change</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angst_Is_Real/pseuds/Angst_Is_Real'>Angst_Is_Real</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Walking Dead (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Day, F/M, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, body switch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:01:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,893</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24849811</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angst_Is_Real/pseuds/Angst_Is_Real</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Carl just wants to spend time with his boyfriend, Negan. Rick wants Carl to go on a family trip instead. After a heated arguement, some certain words end up swiching their lives around. Literally.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carl Grimes/Michonne, Carl Grimes/Negan, Rick Grimes/Michonne, Rick Grimes/Negan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is mainly Carl Grimes/Negan and Rick Grimes/Michonne, but with the circumstances they get in, it gets switched around lol. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"We can do the family trip another day. I want to be with Negan!" Carl and Rick were having a face-off in the living room. Rick wanted to go on a family trip with Carl, Michonne, and Judith. But Carl wanted to go to Negan's house. And so, their arguement continued.</p>
<p>"What are you planning on doing at Negan's anyway?" Rick asked Carl, crossing his arms. "What is more important than being with your family?"</p>
<p>"We were going to go have dinner," Carl told him. "I told Negan I would be there!"</p>
<p>"And when did you make these plans with him?" Rick didn't mind the fact that Negan was very much older than Carl to the boy's surprise. But even then, there were times that Rick wished Negan was far, far away.</p>
<p>"Two days ago," Carl sassed. Rick couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose.</p>
<p>"So you mean <i>after</i> we talked about the family trip and what day it would be?" Rick had to fight back a smirk when he watched Carl's face drop at the realization.</p>
<p>"I forgot, okay? So what? I still need to go!" Carl stomped his foot, making Rick want to roll his eyes. He didn't though, because he didn't really do that much.</p>
<p>"This family trip can't be postponed," Rick told Carl with a scowl on his face.</p>
<p>"Why the fuck not?" Carl snapped.</p>
<p>"Language!" Rick scolded. "And it's because today is a perfect day for it and I don't know when the weather will be this great again."</p>
<p>"Seriously?! That's why? That's a stupid reason!"</p>
<p>"Says you," Rick scoffed.</p>
<p>"You don't get it, do you?!" Carl yelled, anger finally piling over. "I have my own life, you know! I don't need to go on a stupid family trip just for the sake of it!"</p>
<p>"No, I think you don't get it," Rick argued. "You have been very distant lately and I'm at work all the time so I just want to spend more time with you and my family. How is that so bad?"</p>
<p>"You're ruining my life!" Carl shouted back, hands going into fists at his sides.</p>
<p>"Oh, <i>I'm</i> ruining your life?! Really?!" Rick fiercely glared at Carl. "I doubt it."</p>
<p>"I hate you!" Carl snapped at Rick, barely hearing what the older man just said.</p>
<p>At this point, Rick couldn't help but snap. "You know what? I hate you, too!"</p>
<p>Then, suddenly, this strange sensation spread over them both, making them shiver and close their eyes. And when they opened them, their lives changed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rick opened his eyes and noticed that the scene had changed. He wasn't in the living room anymore, but laying in a bed. He sat up, groaning because of the headache he felt. He went to rub his temples but when he did, he noticed the exceptionally long hair that he suddenly had.</p><p>He ran his hands through it in shock. How is this possible? He got up and ran to the bathroom, almost falling as he did so as he realized he was way shorter than he should be. 

</p><p>He swung open the bathroom door and quickly slammed it shut before anyone could see him. Rick turned around and looked into the full body mirror hanging on the door. He gasped when he sees what looked like his son staring back at him in the mirror.</p><p>"This is not right," Rick mumbled. "I'm dreaming." His voice was also very different. So was his clothes. They were Carl's clothes. Why is he wearing Carl's clothes? Most importantly, <i>why is he in Carl's body?</i></p><p>Rick pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. It hurt, so he guessed that he wasn't. He sighed. This was not good. Maybe he was hallucinating…? Even that wouldn't be good.</p><p>Also, if this was real, where is Carl?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Carl opened his eyes after the weird feeling. He saw that he was in his father's bedroom, which was strange. Why would he be in here?</p><p>Carl sat up, a pounding headache making itself known. He felt something beside him and he looked. There was Michonne there laying next to him, sound asleep. Now this was getting even more weird.</p><p>He also felt different. He looked down and his mouth dropped open when instead of seeing his own slim body, he saw his father's body and clothes. <i>What sort of Freaky Friday is this?</i> Carl thought in shock. He stood up on wobbly legs, not used to the largeness of his body. He looked up into the mirror over Rick's dresser.</p><p>"Holy shit, it is Freaky Friday!" Carl exclaimed loudly. In Rick's voice he noted.</p><p>He jumped when he heard Michonne stir by him.</p><p>"Oh, you're awake," Michonne mumbled, still a bit sleepy.</p><p>"Yeah." Carl decided to act as normal as possible for now, knowing that it would suck if he started acting weird when not even he knew what was happening. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll meet you downstairs."</p><p>Michonne nodded and moved to start getting ready to get up. Carl was thankful that neither of them were naked. That would be quite awkward.</p><p>Carl quickly rushed out of the room… and right into Rick. They both jumped when they saw each other.</p><p>"C-Carl? Is that you?" Rick asked, stuttering.</p><p>"Yeah, Dad. It is." Carl took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "C'mon."</p><p>Carl yanked Rick back into the bathroom and shut and locked the door. "We need to talk about this," he said. Rick nodded in agreement, wide-eyed.</p><p>"How are you so calm?" Rick asked, obviously freaking out. Carl rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Have you watched or read any kind of Freaky Friday things?"</p><p>Rick thought for a moment, then nodded when he remembered. "But how the hell could that be real? This is impossible!"</p><p>"Well, it's happening, isn't it?" Carl sighed. "Look, we need to act normal until we find out how to fix this. We're kinda timed."</p><p>"Timed? How?" Rick asked, picking at the hem of Carl's - his shirt.</p><p>"My date tonight, remember? With Negan," Carl replied.</p><p>Rick laughed softly. "Yeah, right. That ain't happening."</p><p>"And what, the family trip still is?" Carl snapped back. Rick sighed. Carl had a point. There was no way that could happen when they are still like this. Carl had no idea how to set something like that up. Everything would just be screwed.</p><p>"Fine. But don't think that is good for you. If we are still like this by the time of your date, you won't get to go. I will," Rick pointed out. Carl got visibly paler at the realization. They had to fix this, and fast. There was nothing more embarrassing than your father going out on a date with your boyfriend. "Unless if I could cancel the date…"</p><p>"No!" Carl exclaimed. "You can't do that to Negan! That's mean!"</p><p>"Then we have to do something about this," Rick said.</p><p>"I know, I know. But what?" Carl asked.</p><p>"I have no idea. Let's find out after we eat. I'm suddenly feeling oh so hungry."</p><p>Carl rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, welcome to being a teenager. You're hungry all the time."</p><p>"Don't you think I don't know that. I've been one before."</p><p>They got themselves as ready as possible, then, they stepped out of the bathroom and into the real world.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rick walked down the stairs in Carl's body, his son behind him. It still felt weird to walk and he almost tripped a few times.</p><p>"Good morning, boys," Michonne greeted them from the dining room table.</p><p>"Morning, Michonne," Rick and Carl said at the same time. Michonne chuckled.</p><p>"How did you guys sleep?" she asked as they sat down in separate chairs.</p><p>"Fine, I guess," Rick replied, unsure as he didn't remember even going to bed.</p><p>"Slept good," Carl said. Rick wondered how the hell Carl could be so nonchalant about all of this. </p><p><i>Kids these days,</i> he thought.</p><p>"So. What did you guys agree on?" Michonne asked them. Rick looked up in confusion.</p><p>"What do you mean?" he asked, grabbing the cereal from Carl and pouring his own bowl.</p><p>"Yesterday? You guys were arguing about whether or not to postpone the trip for Carl's date or not," Michonne reminded them.</p><p>"Oh, uh…" Rick knew that he and Carl agreed that they should postpone the trip, but that doesn't mean he was happy about it.</p><p>"Postpone the trip," Carl said, cutting in. "But I'm hoping we can still go soon. We should be able to as it is going to be summer still for a while and we should have more sunny days." Carl quickly gave Rick a look and at first Rick was confused, but then he got it. Wasn't that what Carl wanted to say during their arguement? It was quite reasonable.</p><p>"That's good," Michonne said, nodding. "It'll be fun."

Rick nodded in agreement. He didn't want to think about the date he might be going to. They had to do something, and fast because he was already getting tired of this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"What the hell are we gonna do about this?" Carl asked his dad when they were alone in the kitchen, washing dishes.</p><p>"I don't know," Rick replied, exasperated. "Was there any key things that happened before we… um, switched?"</p><p>"We said we hated each other," Carl suggested. He knew that usually in the movies the two people that switched are arguing and either there was an object that switched them, or they say certain words. Carl knew for a fact that he and his father wasn't holding anything, so that was out of the picture.</p><p>"Maybe then we have to say we love each other," Rick agreed. They turned to each other and hugged. "I love you, Carl," Rick said.</p><p>"I love you too, Dad," Carl responded.</p><p>Nothing happened.</p><p>Carl sighed when they separated, devastated that it didn't work, and clueless about what could.</p><p>"This needs more thought," Rick said, and Carl nodded in agreement.</p><p>"But for now, we have to act normal," Carl pointed out, "or people will get suspicious.</p><p>Just then, Michonne walked into the kitchen and opened a cupboard. "Sorry," she said to them. "I just forgot a water bottle."</p><p>About a year before, the three of them had decided to just fill up reusable water bottles instead of the plastic ones to help the environment. Rick was the one with that idea, and even still now he is pretty satisfied with it. Mostly.</p><p>"Wait," Michonne said, freezing. "Since when did Carl help with the dishes?"</p><p>Carl and Rick looked at each other then back at her, trying to figure out what to say.</p><p>"Uh… since now?" Carl suggested, not sounding that convincing. Michonne raised her eyebrow.</p><p>"Okay then," she shrugged and walked out of the kitchen with a water bottle in hand.</p><p>They both sighed in relief, thankful that Michonne let it go. Though Carl had to admit, Michonne was used to weird things going around. Maybe they were lucky.</p><p>"That was an immediate fail in the normal department," Carl commented.</p><p>"Yup," Rick agreed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rick had a lot of trouble being normal. Mostly by the fact that Carl usually stayed in his room all day and only came out to go to the bathroom and eat. So now Rick was in Carl's room, bored out of his mind.</p><p>Looking around for something to do, Rick found some comic books, which he didn't read often but if he had to he would, and some notebooks. He decided to go for the notebooks first since he didn't like comic books. He could draw or something, he thought.</p><p>He flipped to the first page which, thankfully, was blank and started to look for a pencil. He thought some were probably in the drawer under the desk as that is where Carl does his homework, but before he got up from the bed that he was currently sitting on, he noticed a faint line showing through the notebook paper. There was something on the other page.</p><p>Rick knew he shouldn't, but he was curious. He turned the page over- blank on both sides- and was met with a beautiful and almost perfect drawing of Negan's face. <i>Lovesick teenagers,</i> Rick thought, shaking his head. Though the art was fantastic. Rick wondered how he didn't know of this talent Carl had.</p><p>Rick flipped to the next page and first noticed a small word of some sort on the back of the one with Negan's face. <i>Negan</i>, it said. Pretty basic.</p><p>The next picture was another one of Negan, but this time a full body drawing. It was again very detailed. Negan had his arms crossed next to a wonderfully drawn motorcycle, wearing a black leather jacket over a grey shirt, bottomed with jeans and leather boots. He was wearing a scarf around his neck and had a smug grin on his face. Rick knew that grin. It usually meant that Negan was either just gonna tease you or cause trouble. Carl mastered it perfectly.</p><p>Flipping to yet another page, he saw that instead of Negan, this picture was one of little Judith sitting cross-legged on the ground. She had a bright smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes that made Rick grin.</p><p>Currently, Judith was at Lori's. Him and Lori shared custody of her and right now it was Lori's turn with the child. Shane had died during an accident, so Rick gladly stepped up to help. </p><p>Lori had refused to let Rick have her just for the trip, wanting to be with her for as long as she could. Rick couldn't blame her for that as he totally understood. Maybe it was a good things that the trip was postponed, he thought. Maybe then next time Judith will be able to come. Rick actually liked that idea.</p><p>He frowned though when he remembered why Lori didn't share custody with Carl and just let Rick have him. She used to care for him, when he was new and a little baby, but as he got older, she grew more and more distant with Carl and soon enough just ignored him most of the time. It broke Carl's heart, and even though now he says he hates Lori, he still is very upset about it, years later.</p><p>Rick looked back down at the picture and smiled again. His little girl was a beauty.</p><p>Deciding to try and find a blank page to work in (he realized that the first page was blank most likely because Carl wanted less of a chance people would find the drawings), Rick quickly flipped pages. Quickly because he didn't want to dive into too much of Carl's privacy. He already went through a bit of it, and he noticed how there was quite a lot of drawings and notes. (Was this what Carl was doing all day?)</p><p>Sighing when he finally found a blank page, he got up and grabbed a pencil from Carl's desk.</p><p>After he settled back down on the bed, he brought the pencil down onto the paper where he was about to doodle random things when he caught sight of a few words on the left paper.</p><p>
  <i>Wish she was here.</i>
</p><p>Rick flipped back the page, wondering who he meant. It was a drawing of Lori. <i>Just as I thought,</i> he thought, and went back to the other page to keep doodling.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey, Rick?"</p><p>Carl had to take a moment to realize that Michonne was talking to him. Currently, he was sitting on the couch reading something he was sure his father would read. The book actually wasn't half bad, but Carl couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Rick was in his room. He hoped Rick didn't find anything suspicious or weird.</p><p>"Yeah?" Carl looked up as Michonne sat down. She had a solemn expression on her face.</p><p>"I know how you feel about the family trip," Michonne began. Carl sighed, putting his book down. In a way, he sort of expected something like this to happen. "But I just have to say that I think you made the right decision to let Carl go to his date tonight."</p><p>Now Carl was curious.

</p><p>"Why?" he asked.

</p><p>Michonne sighed, closing her eyes for a moment, as if preparing what to say. "I know how you feel about stuff like this, but I think it's good to just let Carl go sometimes. He is getting older now, and he doesn't need to be all wrapped up in family things."

</p><p>Carl blinked in surprise. Boy did he wish his father was actually the one to hear this. It would be great for Carl.

</p><p>But, at the same time, Carl felt guilty for it. He was there being comforted when it should be Rick. Carl couldn't help but feel like he's stealing a moment from Rick, and that made him feel bad.

</p><p>"Can-can we talk about this later?" Carl suggested, looking down. He wished that by the time "later" came, him and Rick would be switched back.

</p><p>"You sure?" Michonne gave Carl a worried look. Carl nodded, feeling very sure. "Okay," Michonne replied. "But you won't be able to put this off for too long."

</p><p>Michonne got up to do whatever and Carl let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. <i>That was a close one,</i> he thought.</p>
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